College Life
by IndianSummer1995
Summary: It should have been a normal day in Astrid Hofferson's life. Also, Hiccup Haddock expected normalcy from his day. That is until they run in their second week in college into each other. After not having heard from the other for four years. Well, a normal was therefore out of the question... Modern AU.
1. Prologue

So this is the first fanfiction I've ever written in English, so please don't be too hard on me...

And also if you find any mistakes, point them out. I like improving my language skills. ;-)

* * *

Hiccup Haddock never considered himself lucky. Not even when the beautiful blonde, he'd been noticing for weeks, bumped into him. Which was surprisingly not his fault. Or at least not entirely.

One minute he'd been walking down the hall, reading through his notes from the previous lesson, the next minute something crashed into his body. His wonderful sorted papers flew right out of his hands, thanks to the impact. If he was being honest, right then laying on the ground, his papers were probably the most organized they were in a _long_ time.

But nevertheless, Hiccup soon realized that the "thing", that ran into him, was in fact not a "thing" at all.

It was a girl to be exact. Astrid Hofferson.

He felt her stagger and before he knew what he was doing, he steadied her so she wouldn't fall to the floor. The young man looked into her face and saw surprise and something, that looked an awful lot like recognition, in her eyes.

"Are you okay?", he voiced his concern because she seemed to be spacing off.

"What? Yeah, yeah...I'm perfectly fine.", her wonderful voice sounded strained as if she was forcing herself to answer him.

He decided that if she wasn't going to do something else, he might as well pick up his notes and papers and get going. So he kneeled down to get his papers when he could still sense her presence next to him.

"Don't you have to be somewhere?", Hiccup was somewhat annoyed that he bumped into his high school crush. Out of all people, _why_ had it to be _her_?!

"Actually, no, I don't. I just wanted to apologize for totally crashing into you and wanted to ask if I could help you?", he was down with that and nodded his head in consent.

She got down to his current height and helped him get his notes back together. Finished, they stood up again and she put the sheets she picked up in his hands. Astrid turned to leave but looked to him another time.

"I guess I'll see you around, _Hiccup_."

And once again she left him speechless and frozen in the hallway, looking like the idiot everyone probably thought he was. Only this time they weren't in high school and Hiccup didn't just see her from afar but even talked to her, even though it was mostly idiotic non - sense in his opinion.

This time they were in their college and both Hiccup and Astrid had the impression that it was going to be an interesting four years.


	2. Chapter One

**This is the first "real" chapter. I really have no idea how this is going to work out, I think I'm as much in the dark as you are ;-)**

 **I want to thank everyone, who read this story and decided it was worth their time.**

 **A special thanks to the guest, who left me a review. Honestly, I would have jumped up and down if I wasn't sitting on the bus. You made my day, seriously!**

 **Again if you find mistakes, point them out!**

 **I will just leave you to read now, okay?**

 **P.S.: I'd very much appreciate it if you leave me a review!**

* * *

The next time she saw him was about three days later, just as she and one of her best friends were sitting in the nearest café to the campus. Astrid had just sipped on her coffee when she saw the lean, tall young man with the auburn locks walking up to the counter and putting his order in. The blonde examined Hiccup from head to toe and eventually her eyes got stuck at his jeans-clad behind. At least until Ruffnut nudged Astrid with her elbow and brought her out of her trance.

"Are you okay? You've been staring at that guy's ass for five minutes straight... - Wait is that dude _Hiccup_? Hiccup Haddock from high school?"

Astrid couldn't help the blush rising to her cheeks as Ruff brought up her eyeballing his behind.

"Yeah, that is Hiccup. Why?", she answered as innocently as she could manage, trying to forget the inappropriate thoughts she'd been having only minutes ago which included Hiccup but excluded any clothes at all.

"Oh, just because he got hot. I mean he changed school in our freshman year, right? Now, we're in our freshman year in college. So, we haven't seen him in about four years. How could he grow up from this lanky dork to be this handsome hottie?" She looked over to her best friend, only to find her staring. Confused, the Thorston girl asked: "Why the hell are you staring at me like this?"

"I'm just taken aback by the fact that you just said something that didn't include something perverted, blowing stuff up or both, you know?", Astrid grinned cheekily at the other blonde.

"I, on the contrary, think you have been thinking about something very, very inappropriate. You're resembling an overripe tomato.", the girl with the braids teased.

This was it. Astrid snapped, she couldn't take it anymore: "Just shut up, will ya? You're acting as I've been this little", she showed a small space between her thumb and index finger, "from jumping the guy's bones. Yeah, sure he got hot but I'm not going to do the nasty with him." At least not anytime soon, she thought.

"Doing the nasty with who?"

 **Hiccup**.

Apparently during her scolding, Hiccup, who got his order, had approached them. Fortunately, he'd had only heard the last part of their conversation so the blonde wouldn't die out of embarrassment. But she hadn't accounted for Ruffnut in her equation.

"Hey, Hiccup. Long time, no see...We were just talking about Astrid jumping _your_ bones...", of course, Ruffnut decided to ruin her life by spilling all of her secrets.

Hiccup at first seemed puzzled, then he burst out laughing. "That's a good one, Ruffnut! Like Astrid would ever think about jumping my bones out of all people."

Right now, Astrid was glad that Hiccup still seemed to be insecure about himself. Normally, she would have tried to talk some sense into him. That he was an amazing person and should stop thinking so low of him. But for now, she was relieved that he didn't believe the blonde traitor across from her.

Luckily, before Astrid could reach across the table to strangle her roommate to death, Hiccup spoke again. This time he turned towards her: "By the way, nice to see you, again...You know, after bumping into each other the other day?"

Even though she wasn't looking at her female friend, the young woman could practically sense the question in her eyes.

"Yeah, I remember. It was just only about three days ago, right?" There was no need to tell the handsome boy in front of her that she had been counting the days since she last saw him. Really, no need at all.

"Right. Well, I need to get going...I have to...ahm...study. Exactly, I have to study!" The way he needed to convince himself, confirmed both of the girls' assumptions: He was fleeing from this awkward conversation. "I guess, I'll see you around? So...ahm...bye"

Before either one of the blondes could even mutter an answer, Hiccup Haddock was gone and out of the door.

In a poor attempt trying to steer clear of the obviously following interrogation, Astrid chuckled nervously. "Who needs to study now? I mean, it's only the end of the second week."

As Ruffnut glared at her incredulously, she knew there was no point in denying Hiccup's statement about running into each other.

"Are you fucking kidding me? You ran into Hotcup Haddock three days ago and didn't tell me right away?! Are you insane or the worst best friend **ever**?"

Astrid couldn't help herself. She tried to keep her laughter locked away, but when her suppressed snort came out, she just decided to roll with it and laughed wholeheartedly.

"What? What is so funny? Care to explain?!", due to the fact of being left out of laughter, Ruff grew more irate and more confused by every passing second.

Sensing the irate and confusion, Astrid spluttered words of explanation: "Hot...Hotcup... _Hotcup_ Haddock, really?! That's...puh...the nickname you're going with?" Speaking it out loud, only made her laugh harder.

Ruffnut mocked fake shock "What? How can you _not_ like it? Besides, I mean he did get hot and his name's Hiccup. So yeah, Hotcup. It's the only logical reasoning and I fully intend to use it for a very long time."

"You are unbelievable." The blonde dearly hoped her friend had forgotten about Hiccup and what he said.

"If you, my flaxen-haired friend, think I've forgotten about you bumping into Hotcup, you are sorely mistaken. So, spill!"

Although she didn't feel like it, Astrid couldn't help but smile. She could always count on Ruffnut and her prying nature.

* * *

After Ruffnut's interrogation, Astrid got home later than usual since she flew into the campus library to make her homework.

At least, that's what she told her prying roommate.

Actually, she went there to make sense of her " _meeting_ " with Hotc...ah...Hiccup. At the one side, it was so much fun to see him get flustered, on the other side it had stung today to see him leave.

She was just so _confused_. It was probably the best to sneak past Ruff and go to sleep for the day.

Cursing Hiccup and the effect he had on her wouldn't do her any good, although it seemed tempting and sleeping would be next to impossible with her emotions being in a turmoil.

Well, she could at the very least try.


	3. Chapter Two

**Hello, my friends!**

 **Surprisingly (at least for me), I did write another chapter!**

 **Anyway, I hope you'll like it because I'm not sure what to feel about it.**

 **If you do or don't like it, please leave me a review! These make my day! Literally ;-)**

 **Before I let you read, I want to thank the people, who left me a review:**

 **To the Guest, who wrote 'THIS IS BEAUTIFUL' - Thank you so, so much!❤😍I nearly had a heart attack when I read your review! But just because I didn't expect it!**

 **To the other Guest with 'Good story, thank you for sharing it with us.' - It's my pleasure to upload this, undefinable word-thingie if you like it. Which, by the way, still surprises me!😊**

 **Last but not least, to TheNaturalLlama3 - I will try to keep it up! Really, I'll do my best! I promise.**

 **Now I want to thank a friend of mine, who recently told me, that even though I haven't written in about two years, he never stopped waiting for me to send him a new chapter of one my stories.**

 **Thank you so much! And honestly, if I had known that, I probably would've never stopped writing!**

 **I'm just going to let you read now!**

* * *

Hiccup thought it was a smart move fleeing the most awkward conversation in history. In retrospective, it probably wasn't. It only helped to incriminate him further.

He couldn't help it. He thought, that if he stayed even one-second longer, both Ruffnut and Astrid would sense his embarrassment and more important, his lingering feelings for the Hofferson girl.

Thus, he did what he always did: He ran.

It may not have been the wisest thing to do, but he panicked.

Hours later, arriving at his dorm room, he realized that what he did was ridiculous. Neither girl would have found out about his emotions, that he was sure of now.

Searching for the keys in his bag, he wasn't sure if he wanted his dormmate to be awake or not. If Justin, who preferred the nickname Fishlegs, was up, Hiccup would have to talk about today's events. Not only because of Fishlegs and his ability to see right through him but also to soothe his raging insides.

Unlocking the door, the young man closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath and braced himself for the possible discussion at hand.

He pushed the entry to their shared apartment slowly open and tried to be as quiet as he could.

"Look, who's decided to come home after all. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III." Oh, _joy_. Apparently, Fishlegs was up and waiting for him. The use of his real name indicated that he forgot about something.

"Hey...Fishlegs...H - How ya doing, buddy?", chuckling nervously, he dreaded the following.

"Oh, I'm fine, except for the fact that my best friend since childhood forgot to call me to cancel our daily lunch meeting because he was too busy hiding and ignoring me. But yeah, I'm fine. And how are you?" If you didn't know Fishlegs, you'd think it was just plain anger that made his voice break. But the brown-haired boy knew him. It was also concern that shone through.

"Legs, I'm sorry...I'm really, very, extra sorry...I just...ah...forgot." Hiccup didn't even try to hide his guilt and remorse.

"I know you are, Hiccup. But forgetting your routine just isn't like you." Here it comes: "What is happening, Hic? You've had to know I'd worry. Normally, you would have called. What is going on?"

Deciding fighting it would only prolong it, he answered: "You remember Astrid Hofferson, right?"

Fishlegs laughed. "Remember her? I have the feeling I know her with the way you were swooning over her. _Astrid is so pretty. Astrid is so intelligent. Astrid, Astrid, Astrid_. She was all you were talking about. By the way, even on the other side of the planet, I could feel your affection for her."

Feeling embarrassed and exposed, he only muttered a lame "Shut up" before really telling him: "Anyhoo, I bumped into her a couple a days ago." Three days and nine hours ago. Or at least something around those numbers. He didn't want to come off as obsessed or anything. "And today I saw her and Ruffnut Thorston at the campus café. We had a very...awkward...conversation. When I walked up to them, they were talking about Astrid doing the "nasty" with someone. So, after two minutes I flew, due to the uncomfortable talk."

Fishlegs stared at him without blinking. After a few minutes Hiccup grew worried and waved his hand back and forth in front of the blonde boy's face.

"Fishlegs!"

The large boy finally snapped out of his trance.

"Sorry, I was in a weird headspace right now... _Soo_ , you've seen your crush. The crush you've had since...forever...How's that?" The Ingerman boy grinned from ear to ear.

"And you wanna tell me, you haven't been swooning, as you put it, over Ruffnut?" The smug grin faded. Scrambling to find a witty remark, Hiccup interrupted Fishlegs before he could even begin to talk. "Don't answer that. I know the truth. However, I'm going to bed, Mister Hypocrite."

* * *

The next day there was a certain awkward silence at the Ingerman and Haddock breakfast table.

Hiccup started: "So…", he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Yeah..." Fishlegs probably felt the same way.

The silence continued for the rest of breakfast.

Hiccup decided to finish his breakfast as fast as he could. And to flee from his best friend and their weird, uncomfortable not-talking. "Well, I've gotta go to the forge. I'll see you later."

The forge was a car repair shop, but it wasn't just a place to fix cars. At least not for Hiccup.

The garage was owned by Gobber, a man with only two remaining limbs. He didn't like to explain how he lost the other two, however, Hiccup didn't ask.

 _Gobber the Belch_ , as he called his repair shop, was like a second home for Hiccup since Gobber has been the best friend of his father, Stoick, for as long as Hiccup could remember, thus Gobber was more like an uncle than anything else.

Although Hiccup loved his weird, crazy "uncle", who's missing a hand and a foot, he wasn't there to see Gobber, the mechanic shop or even a girl. He was there for the forge, that Gobber had.

Since Gobber's ancestors were blacksmiths, he thought he should pursue his family's art and history.

But because it was the 21st century and blacksmithing alone wouldn't be enough to live, he opened the best car repair shop in all of Berk (to be fair, there was only one other one and it was always closed).

Hiccup was basically Gobber's apprentice ever since he was little.

When his mother had died, so had Hiccup's relationship with his dad. This had been the reason for him to spend more time at _Gobber the Belch_.

One day the blacksmith decided that if the ten-year-old wanted to stay for the afternoons after his regular school-day was over, he might as well show the lad how to do simple forging.

The Haddock boy hated it at first, though after time he fell in love with it.

He went to the forge when something troubled him (mostly his dad) or he came down there to simply think.

At some point, the then-teenager exceded Gobber's ability, thus he taught the young boy the basics of cars and bikes. Even though he was quite good at repairing vehicles, his love for forging never let him go.

So, as he entered the car repair shop, he greeted Gobber: "Morning, uncle Gobber!", he started calling him uncle years back when he spent nearly every day with the amputee.

"Morning, 'iccup!", sipping on his, what seemed to be his third, cup of coffee, the blacksmith greeted his former apprentice.

"If you're okay with it, I'll take up the forge, okay? I've got some ideas, I want to work on."

"Yeah, go on, lad! I trust you, to not burn the place down. **Again**." The look he sent Hiccup's way, had him chuckling. Although he was embarrassed to be reminded of the mistake, that could have burned down the entire building, he still laughed, because it was a fond memory by now. Gobber screaming at him, his stupidity and apparently at his recklessness too before breaking into a full grown laugh. A laugh that showed how relieved he was nothing had happened to the little boy, who at first hadn't understood why the older man was cracking up and even shedding some tears. It was only after a bone-crushing hug and an explanation that he grasped the meaning of the tears and amusement. After this incident, they grew even closer.

"That only happened once! Besides, it was the slip-up of a beginner... I'm an expert now!"

"That you are indeed.", was the mumbled response to his fake arrogant statement.

Hiccup went through the door leading to the forge and was soon welcomed by the unmistakable heat, that had his source in the forge itself.

Opening the door, the warmth all but slapped him in the face. He nearly stumbled backward, taken aback by the hotness. But he soon adapted and enjoyed the familiar environment. Looking for a suitable piece of metal to heat it up and to cast it into the form of a sword. A sword like it was being used by the Vikings, who lived in Berk centuries ago.

By the time he had found a perfect scrap of metal, the forge was perfectly heated to scald the hardware. After a couple of minutes, the piece was hot enough, so he got it out of the oven and onto the anvil.

Hiccup held the metal with the tongs and picked up the hammer to forge it into the blade of the sword. Balancing the heavy tool was a bit tricky, but as he had done it often enough it was a completed task in no time.

As always, when the hammer hit the hot metal, the young man felt the familiar vibrations in his whole body.

After a few more blows with the gavel, he had forgotten about everything that's been bothering him. His strange non-fight fight with Fishlegs, his confusing feelings towards Astrid and his even more confusing encounters with Astrid in the recent time.

All he concentrated on, was the constant tremor of the hammer hitting the metal.


	4. Chapter Three

**I'm still alive. And I'm back with 1,806 words of pure...I don't know what it is...**

 **So, I kinda want to dedicate this chapter to a good friend of mine, who is leaving in a week for five months of Italy. Laura, by the way, I hate you! You're leaving me totally alone at school. That's not nice.**

 **Anyway to Guest 1 - You should meet my little cousin, she likes the nickname 'Hotcup' very much... ;-)**

 **To Guest 2- I saw that other fanfiction too. I'm just very uncreative when it comes to titles.**

 **To King Of Beasts 007 - Thank you! I will try to write something that makes sense.**

 **And to nightfury335 - I wouldn't say art, I'd say rubbish. But thanks nonetheless.**

 **Enjoy, or not!**

* * *

College was hard enough, but being Astrid Hofferson was way harder.

Since the blonde always had to be the best at everything she did, she had much to do to keep up her grades at their current levels. All straight A's.

In addition, she had quite a set of extracurricular activities, although most of them had something to do with sports. The student loved cheerleading, took classes in Krav Maga and thanks to her father insisting on it, she could split a log of wood in two. In case of an emergency probably also a man.

The only problem: she had so much to do, that she lacked the time for a lot of social life. She often had to cancel meetings with her friends, which she had quite many of them when she had to study hard.

On this fateful day, she had to call off a date with Ruffnut and Heather, who were already complaining about the hard-working girl. The only thing different than usual was that Astrid simply couldn't concentrate on anything. And frankly, that was solely Hiccup Haddock's fault! How dare he, he and that damn smile, buzz around in her head without her permission! (Not that she would ever let him do that willingly.)

Having to study for the upcoming psychology exam was hard enough work as it is without trying to erase Hiccup from her thoughts.

After nearly two hours of reading the same page in her psychology book over and over again, she finally gave up and decided to drive to the one place, she would definitely forget about him: to her uncle's place.

After her parents had died, her uncle took her in and practically raised her as his own daughter. With Finn Hofferson being a fireman, Astrid had the feeling ever since she moved in with him that she needed to be ready if something terrible happened. Especially since her uncle had the nickname _Fearless_ Finn Hofferson for a reason. When everyone retreated he was the last one out, making sure no one was left behind and everybody was safe.

This resulted in Astrid detaching herself from everybody she had a connection with to prevent getting hurt by losing somebody she cared about. Not even her best friends knew all of her and that scared the shit out of her. What if she was too closed off so that nobody would ever really love her? What if she couldn't establish a real connection with someone?

However, she didn't think about the _What If's_ when she parked her car outside of her uncle's house. The only thing on her mind was how unfair it was, that pets weren't allowed in her dorm room. Since dogs were also pets her dog Stormfly had to live with Finn.

Exiting the car, she muttered, "I really need an apartment of my own."

As she unlocked the front door, the barking started. Astrid carefully opened the door to prevent being overthrown by her over-eager dog and becoming the victim of one of Stormfly's greetings, where she licked Astrid until her complete face was covered in saliva.

But this time nothing even remotely close to that happened. As she pushed the door wide open, the blonde girl saw her uncle holding her dog by the collar to keep her from licking Astrid to death.

"It's alright, lass. C'mon in. I've got the crazy dog." Finn Hofferson looked like he was holding Stormfly down with all his might.

As if Stormfly understood what the fireman said about her, she turned her, stopped the panting and the barking and glared at him.

"Uncle Finn! I'm happy to see you too. By the way, I always told you she could understand everything you said." Astrid chuckled at his wary glance towards the dog.

"You can let her go now. I'm ready to be overthrown."

Fearless Finn Hofferson slowly eased his hand from the collar and steadied himself to spring into action if necessary.

As soon as Stormfly felt the big hand disappear, she lunged forward to her owner, who she hadn't seen In over a week. Colliding with the student, happened to throw them both over. So, while Astrid lay on the ground and smiling in a very content manner, Stormfly nuzzled her face into Astrid's neck.

And suddenly, lying on the floor, she realized that no matter what had happened to her parents, Fearless Finn Hofferson would always love her as if she was his own daughter.

That realization both calmed and scared us.

After a couple of hours they spent talking, laughing, eating and generally just catching up (and playing in Stormfly's case), Astrid sensed the need to get back to her dorm room. So she bid her goodbye and got into her car.

Since her uncle's house was a little bit outside of the small town, the girl thought it would take about an hour to get to her dorm.

The last thing she expected was for the old car to give up as soon as she passed the first few houses of the outskirts of Berk.

Lucky for her just about two minutes from her current position was the only working car repair shop of the whole city.

Thus, she took her purse, got out of her car, locked it and walked the rest to the shop.

It wasn't that late, about 5 pm, but it was late enough in order for only two or three mechanics still working. As she entered the shop, she was nearly immediately greeted by a sturdy looking man with an arm prosthesis. Oh, and a missing leg.

" 'ello, lassie! How can I help ye?"

"My car broke down about two minutes from here, I'd need someone to take a look at it."

"Aye, I've got you." He looked around the shop, obviously in search of something. "Eret, c'm'ere" Or in search of someone. "I'm Gobber by the way." Gibber extended his remaining arm.

"Astrid", she shook his hand.

In the meantime, a tall man with dark brown hair and a tattoo on his chin had approached.

Gibber explained Astrid: "Eret here will tow your car back here and then we'll have a look, okay?"

Eret looked at Astrid "Eret son of Eret at your service, Ma'am."

Between fits of giggles, she managed to bring a "Just Astrid Hofferson, no Ma'am." out.

After she had calmed down, Eret told her to get into the towing truck and to give him the directions to where her car stood.

As Eret began to drive, Astrid decided to interrogate him. Just for the fun of it.

"Soo...can I ask you some questions, _Eret son of Eret_?"

He grinned, "Sure thing, shoot away."

"What's up with the chin tattoo?"

Eret told her that it was a tribal crest, a remnant from when his ancestors lived in Iceland centuries ago before coming to the UK.

"Then how did you end up here? In Berk? In the middle of nowhere?"

"You know, that's just something that happens."

She nodded, pretty certain that it _wasn't something that just happens_ as he put it, but she against prying for details.

"I noticed a kinda thumping noise in the shop earlier. What was that?" Astrid remembered the weird, repetitive noise just now as she didn't hear it anymore.

"Oh. That was Gobber's…hmm…how can I put easy? Let's say adoptive son. Gobber has a forge in the back room and he and his adoptive son use sometimes. He's a nice guy, but a few years back…man, he was just awkward most of the time and damn, he was so lanky. Now he kinda grew out of it, the lanky part not the awkwardness. That still shows sometimes." Eret chuckled. It was clear to Astrid that he held a great affection for the boy.

"How long have you been working for Gobber?"

" _Pfff_ …I started at _Gobber the Belch_ what?...five years ago…yeah as soon as I got here. That was a **long** time ago."

Before she could form a response, Eret continued. "We're back."

She hopped out the towing truck. " _Already_? I didn't even notice we stopped for my car."

"Yeah, I noticed. You were completely dazed off." Eret laughed.

This time when they entered the repair shop, Astrid instantly noticed the missing of the thumping noise. And now the shop seemed awfully silent.

Gobber came towards them. "Okay, lassie. We'll take a look at it."

Astrid sighed in relief.

" **Tomorrow**." Gone was the relief, back was a slight panic.

"What? Can't you look at it now? I need it to get back to my dorm." The blonde girl became more agitated by the second.

"I'll take you to your dorm."

At the sound of the familiar voice, the girl turned around.

There stood the handsome devil with the green eyes. Arms crossed and leaning against a door frame, Hiccup looked like he totally belonged in there.

" 'iccup! Ye already done with forging?"

Hiccup pushed himself away from the wall and came over to them. As he came closer Astrid noticed the wet strands of hair.

"Yes, Gobber. I'm done. And I'll take Astrid home. If that's alright with her?" He looked questioningly at her.

Shaking her head to clear it, she answered with "Yeah, sure. Thanks."

"Then come on. It's the black pick-up in the parking lot."

Astrid waved Gobber and Eret goodbye and followed the young man out.

When Hiccup started the engine, Astrid looked up to him and said: "So...You're Gobber's _adoptive_ son, aren't you?"

"Let me guess: Eret told you that, right? But, yeah, you could say that."

The longer they drove, the longer they wanted the drive to last forever. At first, there was a little bit of awkward silence. However, as soon as the ice was broken, they discussed things of all kinds: politics, teachers, hobbies and so on. And then they arrived at Astrid's dorm room.

Hiccup chuckled a bit embarrassed. "I guess we're here."

"Yeah, I guess we are."

Astrid unbuckled her seatbelt and went to get out of the car, but Hiccup caught her wrist.

At the sensation of Hiccup touching her, she instantly looked into his eyes. He, on the other hand, pulled his hand away as if it was burned.

"I wanted to ask you for your number, in order for me to send you a text when your car is ready. But I totally get it, if you don't -"

Eret was right. His awkwardness still showed sometimes.

"I'll give my phone number." She took out a piece of paper and wrote her phone number on it. Astrid smiled as he took it and leaned forward to peck his cheek. And then she got out of the car. Completely unaware she just caused him a stroke.

So, he sat in his truck, dumbfounded, unmoving, and grinning like an idiot.


	5. Chapter Four

**Hello there! Long time, no read! Okay, it wasn't long...;-)**

 **To TheNaturalLlama3: Thanks 😂**

 **To Guest: I don't speak Portuguese so I kinda had to rely on google translate...don't hate me if it's wrong: muitíssimo obrigado! 😊**

 **To nightfury355: I don't mind your fangirling...actually I LOVE it...thank you for your reviews and nice words...❤❤❤**

 **In Austria, HTTYD3 aired yesterday and I'm gonna watch it tomorrow with my big sister...I can't watch it for the first time without her because I watched the second one before her and she forced me to spoiler her EVERYTHING! 😂**

 **Anyway, enjoy today's chapter and leave me your thoughts and opinions!**

* * *

The next day was pretty uneventful for one Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. He and Fishlegs ended their weird, uncomfortable and awkward silence.

Hiccup visited his lectures, doodled in his notes instead of paying attention. Although, his classes weren't that hard and he was quite smart, not meaning to brag.

The rest of the day was spent, letting himself be distracted by Astrid's cheek peck the night prior and he had blushed furiously every time he had thought of it.

But, since he couldn't spend the remaining part of the day wearing a goofy grin, Hiccup decided to drive down to Gobber's place and try to figure out what was wrong with her car.

And like always, he was instantly greeted by Gobber.

What was new to him, was Eret walking over to him wearing his signature smug grin.

"Where's your girlfriend?"

 _I just can't get a break, now can I?_

Blushing once more, he stammered a weak "Astrid's not my girlfriend."

" _But you'd like her to be_ " sing-songed the bulky man.

Caught by surprise, Hiccup began choking until his face was completely red. And Eret? That little shit laughed his ass off and nearly died from it.

Before the younger man could come up with a response (after he wasn't in imminent danger from dying due to a lack of oxygen), Gobber motioned them to come to him.

"Eh, laddies. Mala's coming here in about five minutes. Just to give ye a warning." A pointed look in Eret's direction.

" **Mala**? Then Throk's not far away. Man, I can still feel his fist colliding with my face, from the last time."

"Well, you did look at Mala a little bit too long for his liking, and he is her security detail."

Eret sighed and threw his hands up in exasperation. "I was looking at her because she was talking! I was being polite!"

Gobber chimed in again: "Ye also provoked the lad a little bit, didn't ye?"

"Whatever. I'm out of here. Call me when they've left."

They watched as Eret walked away to his car and driving out of the lot, merely seconds before a black Sedan pulled up.

Moments later, the sound of car doors being slammed shut, made the brunette and the amputee focus on the Sedan.

"Mala! Throk! My two favorite customers, although you're here quite often. I must say." Gobber said.

Hiccup stepped forward and greeted Mala with a quick handshake while he was attentively watched by Throk. "Mala, as always a pleasure. What can we help you with?"

"Hiccup. We'd need someone to take a look under the hood. It makes some weird noises when Throk's accelerating and the brakes don't grip as good as they used to."

"We'll take a look alright." Gobber paused. "And Throk? Don't be so tense, aye? Ye've known us for a while now, haven't ye?"

Throk hesitated and looked to Mala, who gave him a small nod, telling him it was alright. He relaxed his spine and shoulders nearly instantly.

Until he was disturbed by a loud, noisy, pain in the ass named Tuffnut LaVerne Thorston. Who had a leash on an equally annoying _CHICKEN_?!

"H! Throkman! Your Queen-ness!" He even managed a not so bad bow before he continued. "Gobber!" Tuffnuts usual cheeriness annoyed Hiccup to no end. Because it normally meant he was up to something bad. After all, he did dedicate himself to Loki, the god of pranks as Tuffnut put it.

"Tuffnut, what the hell are you doing here? First off, it's not _Queen_ -ness, it's highness. And Mala isn't a queen, she's the mayor of the next town. Secondly, and most importantly, why in Thor's name do you have a chicken on a leash as if it were a dog?" Hiccup was seriously confused.

"How dare you, compare Chicken with a mere pet?! _Pff_..." The boy with the dreadlocks shouted outraged. "Chicken's so much more than that. She's my soulmate." He boasted proudly.

Hiccup turned his attention back to Gobber, Mala and Throk. The latter looked at him and whispered: "Shall I get the young man to the psychiatry? He looks even more confused than the last time I saw him."

The young Haddock glanced back at the man in question, who was currently very engrossed with his chicken. "Nah, the last time you saw him, he probably had a down day. That's the normal quota of weirdness."

Still seeming unsettled by the scene unfolding in front of him, Throk slowly nodded not being able to tear his eyes away as Tuffnut was seemingly discussing something with the chicken now.

"What do you mean? Of course it was there! Don't act as if you haven't seen that thing, young lady!"

Hiccup decided to call it quits. "Gobber, I'll take a look at Astrid's car. Right now I can't deal with... _all this_."

The burly man opened his mouth in order to protest, but he quickly shut it again when he saw that his former apprentice had already left him behind.

Reaching Astrid's car, the tall boy pulled his phone out of his pocket to drown out the rest of the garage with music. Plugging in his earphones, he completely dived into one of his current favorite songs.

 _If you were church, I'd get on my knees_

 _Confess my love, I'd know where to be_

 _My sanctuary, you're holy to me_

 _If you were church, I'd get on my knees_

 _I'd get on my knees_

 _I'd get on my knees_

Humming along, Hiccup opened the hood and started to look there.

 _Take the pain_

 _Make it billboard big and swallow it for me_

 _Time capsule for the future_

 _Trust me, that's what I will be_

 _Oh, the things that you do in the name of what you love_

 _You are doomed, but just enough_

 _You are doomed, but just enough_

* * *

Hours later, Hiccup had found out what was wrong with Astrid's car.

Before he took out his phone and texted her, he picked up a rag and wiped the grease off of his hands.

He contemplated what he should write, however, he couldn't even decide on how to greet her.

"Astrid. Hey." "Hi, Astrid." "Hi, Astrid" "Hi, Astrid." Yeah, his brain was definitely fried by that wonderful peck on the cheek.

 _Bad Hiccup! Bad Hiccup! You need to concentrate!_

Shaking his as if he could shake the memory out of his head, he concentrated on the phone. "Screw it." He muttered.

In the end, all he could come with was:

 ** _Hi, Astrid. I just checked your car. Your battery is empty and your display lights died as well. By the way, maybe we could go out sometime? - Hiccup_**

Realizing his thoughts somehow slipped into his text, he wanted to delete it. The young man didn't want to creep her out.

"Hey, H!"

Surprised by Tuff's yell, Hiccup instantly tensed up and... ** _no_**...

He was mortified. He accidentally pushed the enter button, which sent the message on its way.

 _Can't the earth swallow me whole?!_

He sure as hell was about to faint due to the shock when his phone signaled an incoming text.

 **Thank you for checking my car so soon. And by the way, I'd like to go out with you too. - Astrid**

This was it. Hiccup wished his consciousness goodbye as everything turned black.

* * *

At the same time, on the other side of town, Astrid Hofferson lay on her bed, trying to block out her nosy roommate while reading a book.

"Ruff, will you quiet **down**?"

"No can do."

"What are you even doing to be this l -" She was cut off by her beeping phone. "A text. _Huh_."

From an unknown number: _**Hi Astrid. I just checked your car. Your battery is empty and your display lights died as well. By the way, maybe we could go out sometime? - Hiccup**_

Not being able to resist, she smiled and typed her answer.

 **Thank you for checking my car so soon. And by the way, I'd like to go with you too. - Astrid**

She turned off the phone and hugged it to her chest, wearing a dopey smile.

What did this boy do to her? Her insides had never felt this warm and tingly before.

"Hey, missy! What's got you all dreamy and starry-eyed?" Ruffnut yanked her back to reality.

She sighed. "Oh, nothing."

"Don't sass me, young lady. I think it's got something to do with your phone and I'm gonna find out." Suddenly the other blonde leaped onto Astrid and fought her for her for the phone.

" _Ruff_! Get _off_ of me! What the hell is **wrong** with you? You're a f-"

"Is there something you two want to tell me? I didn't know you had lesbian tendencies, Ast. I kinda figured Ruff had some. But you? _Pff_...that's a shock." This what followed by a chuckle.

Astrid held her hand far out of reach for Ruff and was half sitting up and Ruff...well, let's just say the assumption wasn't that absurd.

Exasperated, Astrid flopped back down on her bed as she saw who broke into their dorm.

"Heather. How did you get in here?"

"The door wasn't locked. Literally, anyone could have come in here with you screaming bloody murder." Heather laughed.

Astrid was blushing at the possibility of some random guy going to see if someone was being murdered. Especially since she was only wearing a sports bra and flimsy shorts.

The blonde closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. "Dear gods, _help_ _me_."


End file.
